Characteristics of neutron source based on radially convergent beam fusion

Summary form only given, as follows. Summary form only given. Previous studies of spherically convergent beam fusion (SCBF) indicate that it has a potential applicable to a portable neutron source. However, the detailed mechanism of SCBF has not been made clear. This depends on a fact that it is difficult to measure the physical quantities precisely in a central region of spherical configuration. Therefore, to investigate the detailed SCBF mechanism, we devised to change the electrodes shapes from spherical to cylindrical. This alteration eases precise measurements and diagnoses, and makes a simulation model from three-dimensional to two-dimensional because of the better axial uniformity. In addition, there are some practical advantages in this alteration. The spherical device corresponds to a point source, the dose decays in inverse proportion to the square of the distance. On the other hand, the cylindrical device corresponds to a line source, the dose decays in inverse proportion to the distance ideally. Therefore, the effective neutron irradiation is expected in the close range. Furthermore, it is difficult to water-cool a spherical grid cathode since the water passes are very complicated. In a cylindrical device, however, it is easy because of the straight passes. Therefore, the cylindrical device is very practical for a high-power operation. In this study, experimental and simulation results of cylindrical glow discharge for a portable neutron source is presented.